Comptroller Stringer Hosts Roundtable with New Yorkers Wronged by Commercial Bail Industry Following Newly Announced Legislation to Ban For-Profit Bail in New York State

(New York, NY) — Comptroller Stringer today met with over three dozen formerly incarcerated New Yorkers victimized by the punitive for-profit bail system at the Exodus Transitional Community, days after announcing a new bill sponsored by State Senator Brian Benjamin and Assemblymember Michael Blake to abolish the private bail industry in New York State. Earlier this year, Comptroller Stringer proposed a ban on commercial bail and today’s roundtable included a diverse group New Yorkers whose personal experiences with New York’s private bail system highlight the critical need for reform.

Comptroller Stringer’s report, The Public Cost of Private Bail, estimated that in FY 2017 the private bail bond industry extracted between $16 million and $27 million in nonrefundable fees from New York City defendants and their families. The report also found that defendants detained because they are unable to pay bail lose $28 million in wages annually, exacerbating the already punitive consequences of New York City’s jail system, which hits communities of color and low-income New Yorkers the hardest. The Comptroller’s analysis found more than 80 percent of people who are put in jail because they cannot afford to post bail are Black or Hispanic and 40 percent are under 30 years old.

The Comptroller’s report revealed that some bail bond providers collect fees above the legally permitted amount or fail to return collateral as required under contract. Additionally, private bail bond operators may file bonds with the court late, leading to unnecessary delays in a defendant’s release, even after a contract has been signed and all the required fees have been paid and collateral has been posted.

The attendees at Comptroller Stringer’s roundtable discussed their entanglements with the pernicious commercial bail system at the Exodus Transitional Community in East Harlem, which provides resources and opportunities that empower formerly incarcerated individuals to secure employment, reconnect with their families, and fully integrate into mainstream society.

“Today I met with New Yorkers forced into impossible situations due to the unconscionable commercial bail system. These New Yorkers I met today prove that the entire commercial bail system fails any reasonable standard of justice,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “It’s a system that puts profit before justice, punishes people for low-incomes, and needlessly locks people up at Rikers Island. It’s wrong, and it’s why we’re committed to fighting for change and collaborating with Senator Benjamin and Assemblymember Blake to ban commercial bail in New York once and for all.”

Abolishing commercial bail in New York would end an industry that plays an unnecessary role as a middleman in the bail process while extracting millions in non-refundable fees largely from communities of color. The proposed legislation would make New York policy consistent with bans already implemented in four other states, and if passed, would be a major step forward in reforming the bail system, while enabling the City to further reduce its jail population, a critical step on the road to closing Rikers Island.

Commercial bail bonds are the most costly form of bail for taxpayers, defendants, and their families and loved ones. Unlike alternative forms of bail, premiums paid to private bail bond companies are generally nonrefundable regardless of the final case verdict. Moreover, obtaining release through commercial bail bonds is often cumbersome, taking days while alternative forms of bail are more likely to minimize short jail stays. With relatively few people being able to make bail at arraignment, commercial bail bonds and the fees associated with them contribute to tens of thousands of short-stay admissions to City jails that drive up costs for taxpayers.

After Comptroller Stringer, State Senator Benjamin, and Assemblymember Blake announced their plan to ban commercial bail, over two dozen criminal justice reform leaders, advocacy groups, legal scholars, legal aid societies, and labor and faith leaders joined their effort and called on the State to pass the landmark legislation, which would be a key milestone on the road to a larger overhaul of New York’s bail system.

To read the proposed bill to ban commercial bail in New York City, click here.

To read the Comptroller’s initial report, The Public Cost of Private Bail, click here.

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